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Microsoft To License Unix Code From SCO
from the tweaking-IBM? dept
Following all the stories about SCO declaring war on all of Linux-dom, along comes Microsoft to very publicly agree to license Unix from SCO. In what might just be a big publicity stunt by Microsoft to tweak the Linux crowd (and IBM), they claimed this move "is representative of Microsoft's ongoing commitment to respecting intellectual property and the IT community's healthy exchange of IP through licensing. This helps to ensure IP compliance across Microsoft solutions and supports our efforts around existing products like services for Unix that further Unix interoperability."
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The Irony of it all
The real irony (and something I haven't seen pointed out in any of the articles yet is that in years past Microsoft was one of the largest shareholders in SCO (the pre-Caldera company).
Back in the 80's, Microsoft's UNIX variant, XENIX, was the core of SCO's business - and as such, for quite some time, Microsoft made more licensing revenue from Xenix than it did from DOS.
Just before the launch of Windows 3.0, the company decided that it would be too confusing to be competing against itself, so it transferred ownership of XENIX (and the IP) to SCO, in exchange for a siginficant chunk of the company (around 15% I believe).
Funny, how what goes around...
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